Gerald Gerbrandt's Final Meditation

     At 11:30 in the morning this past Monday, we had chapel.  This particular chapel, however, was special, because it was the last chapel with Gerald Gerbrandt, our CMU president.  Gerald has served as the CMU president since this school first opened in 2000.  And on this day, he gave his final meditation.
    "We are standing on holy ground," Gerald said.  Chapel, he said, is a center of the community at our school.  Gerald reminisced about how it felt to walk into the chapel back in the days when he was a CMBC student.  "I walked in scared, unsure of what the future would look like."  Although the chapel is a very plain building, it is here where we gather together as a community to worship God, and that makes it a very special place.
     "If you are back here next September," said Gerald towards the end of his meditation, "may you remember throughout next year that you are standing on holy ground.  And if you are not coming back, either because you are graduating in a month or for some other reason, may you find holy ground somewhere else, where you live or where you work, because God is everywhere."
     Before we could file out after the service, there was last thing we had to do.  We had to put our shoes back on.  Gerald did, too.  He had asked us all to remove our footwear because we were, in fact, in a holy place.
     We will miss Gerald greatly.  He led CMU very successfully through its founding years, which are is the most challenging time for any institution.  Thank you for all you have done, all the event hosting and meditations and interviews and traveling.  Thank you for all your efforts to make this school better for us.  It is greatly appreciated.